England vs New Zealand: Three Lions Look To Build Momentum Ahead of World Cup Opener

by Devesh Jaganath

image England vs New Zealand: Three Lions Look To Build Momentum Ahead of World Cup Opener
England’s preparations for the 2026 World Cup will intensify this weekend, as they set their sights on their first official warm-up match against New Zealand. The match will be played at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, at 21:00 BST.

Last Chance For England Players to Impress Tuchel 

Preparations for the biggest World Cup ever are well underway, and England will be looking to start building up momentum for the tournament from this weekend, when they take on New Zealand at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Saturday night. 

Despite Thomas Tuchel’s ruthless and somewhat questionable squad selection for the competition, the Three Lions are still among the favourites to claim the title and bring an end to their agonising six-decade wait for football’s grandest prize, as discussed in more detail in our World Cup predictions. 

This match will serve as an opportunity for Tuchel to have a closer look at some of his fringe players, given that the Arsenal quartet of Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke will not feature against the All Whites following the Champions League final. 

As a result, Elliot Anderson and Kobbie Mainoo could get the nod to start in central midfield in Rice’s absence, while Morgan Rogers could take up station on the right wing to allow Jude Bellingham to operate in the number-10 role behind Harry Kane. 

Notably, Jason Steele, Josh King, Ethan Nwaneri, Alex Scott and Rio Ngumoha are all part of the training squad at the team’s base in Florida. None of them have been included in Tuchel’s 26-man squad for the World Cup, but they are allowed to feature in this match. 

This will be England’s first fixture since losing to Japan 1-0 during the March international break, which ended their seven-match unbeaten run. New Zealand, meanwhile, suffered a 4-0 defeat to Haiti in midweek, marking their eighth loss in their last 10 matches since June last year (W1 D1). 

England Squad Numbers Stir Debate Over World Cup Starting XI

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Earlier this week, the squad numbers for the English squad were confirmed, and many consider this the clearest indication yet of how Tuchel intends to line up his team for the global tournament in North America in the coming weeks. 

Traditionally, kit numbers 1 through 11 are allocated to the manager’s preferred lineup, and based on that, speculation has begun to swirl, especially around Marcus Rashford and Ezri Konsa being handed the number 11 and 2 jerseys, respectively. 

Rashford was widely expected to battle Anthony Gordon and Eberechi Eze for the left-wing role. Given that he has previously donned jersey numbers 18, 19 and 21, many feel that the Man United attacker is now firmly ahead of Gordon and Eze in Tuchel’s pecking order. 

Similarly, Konsa has operated as a centre-back, where he started in Aston Villa’s Europa League triumph last month. Being handed the number two jersey has now raised questions over whether Tuchel is considering deploying the 28-year-old ahead of Reece James and Tino Livramento at right-back.